Eventpost 18 - Wilderley BMCA

Wilderley BMCA trial today and after the rain yesterday the going was quite muddy but suprisingly grippy.

Nigel Houlston put on a good trial today with good use of the ground and the hard route certainly gave a few challenges to the field.

I can honestly say that the bike was fantastic and didn't miss a beat all day and I think I rode well, certainly after a first lap mishap.

The result doesn't quite paint the whole picture of the day as I lost 5 or my 9 marks for going the wrong way on section 3 on the first lap, therefore I actually rode the trial for 4 marks which I was happy with.

STOP PRESS - after posting this last night, the results showed that I had finished 2nd, however later on I received a 2nd set of revised results as there has been a counting error on the 1st set and I found that I had won the trial. The resvised results are shown below;

Results

Hard Route

1. Dave Dawson 9

2. Nathan Jones 11

3. Dave Jones 14

4. Pete Reed 21

5. Gary Hawkins 24

6. Alan Borton 24

7. Graham Roberts 31

8. Steve Thompson 48

9. Bob Greenhough 54

Easy Route

1. Roy Jones 0

2. Andy Lane 3

3. Dave Hammersley 6

4. Colin Smith 7

5. Joe Owen 7

6. Ray Barrett 7

7. Ian Bullock 8

8. Tony Bradley 9

9. Al Ussher 10

Spritepost 29

The tank has been received back today and I am chuffed to bits with how it has turned out.

Thanks really has to go out to Piers Dowell (Piers Dowell Custom Paint Schemes) Tel 01568 750477 - also check out his web site at http://www.piersdowell.com/ for the type of work he completes.

Tomorrow will be the first run out with the bike in it's finished state at the BMCA trial at Wilderley- I am sue it wont be long before I am reporting a dent or a badly scratched tank but it is just how I imagined it would turn out and I am really pleased with it. I will post results and pics from tomorrow's trial tomorrow night.

Incase you will be there, it looks like I will have this and my Fantic on show at Alan Wright's Classic Bike Show in Feb at Malvern.

Spritepost 28

I tried my best to keep it under wraps but as Piers has just sent me the first photos of the tank I felt that I needed to share what it's going to look like!!!

It has just been flatted to have some more lacquer coats so will not end up looking dull as in the photo but you can see what the finished paint will look like.

The idea came from the original Sprite logo being on a Union Jack background and I really wanted something that would be identifiable yet different - i think that has been achieved with this???

I think the airbrushed Sprite and Villiers logos really set it off rather than running stickers as I had originally planned to do.

Let me know what you think, either by comments on the site or to davedawson444@btinternet.com

Spritepost 27

I mentioned a few weeks ago that a couple of modifications had been made to lighten the clutch and also to lengthen the carb manifold in order to achieve a little more bottom end punch. Here are a couple of pictures to show the midifications done by Alan Nicklin.

The Manifold is a couple of inches longer than standard but also moves the carb out to the left to allow the air filter to fit to the side of the frame.

The clutch is now a lot lighter thanks to better routing of the clutch cable which now comes over the engine and the end of the cable runs round the wheel and directly on to the clutch arm. This has allowed us to put all the springs back in the clutch and still achieve the light feel that I was looking for.

This was a prototype, however I understand that Alan is making a batch of these to fit onto the engine mount for all frames using villiers engines.

Spritepost 26

Today the ignition system was bench tested by Simon Bateman and it was discovered that the sender unit at the flywheel had broken down for the second time.

It has been replaced again and the engine has gone back together with a huge spark present so we will have to just see if it was merely bad luck and run with this set up to see how it holds up. Any further failure and I think it will have to find the bin to make way for another ignition system.

One other small modification this week has been a couple of aluminium inserts above the springs to act as preload in the forks as the front felt like it was sitting a little low under my excessive weight. This should make the front sit up a little better and make the front end feel a little lighter.

The tank went off to Piers Dowell Custom Paints on Sunday to be sprayed and should be back with me next week. I have commissioned a paint job that will certainly make it stand out in a crowd and you will certainly recognise it from the other bikes at any event that you see me at!

I will take some pics and post the finished product when it comes back. I think this will add the finishing touch as it now feels like I intended when I had the idea to start the project.. You never know Dad, I might actually be happy with it now! What will you do with your days when this and the Fantic are finished????

Eventpost 17 - Classic Experts Trial Rhayader

I nearly rode the Classic Experts Trial today. Got entered, turned up, kit on, started bike all OK then it stopped and that was it....... Spectator for the day!!!

For some reason we think the electronic ignition has broken down for a second time and after checking the ignition, flywheel etc etc etc it just would not start.

As this is the 2nd ignition system I have had on the bike from Simon Bateman at Nametab I fear that we will now have to give up and look at alternatives as reliability seems poor and a few more days like today with 18 quid entry and petrol for car and bike it is going to be a costly exercise unless it gets resolved soon.

I am thinking Rex Gaunt or PVL systems unless anyone advises something else. Will ask around and keep the BLOG updated with progress..

Fanticpost 4

The re-ground forks have come back now and the bike is on it's wheels so not far from being ready to try in a trial.

Just waiting now for tank and side panels to come through from John at the twinshockshop which should arrive in the next few weeks.

Fanticpost 3

Things are moving at quite a pace on the Fantic, but we have now ground to a halt waiting for suppliers to get the bits to us that we need.

A couple of additions this week are a really neat brake pedal, brake arm, chain guard and chain tensioner all made by my dad's fair hand.

Once the new head gasket arrives this week the head can be secured and the exhaust fitted then we are waiting for the forks to come back from re-chroming and the front end can go back together.

It will then be the tank that causes a delay to the final build as this will undoubtedly be another couple of weeks to get the final replica tank so we may have to use the original tatty tank for a while to get it out and try it.

As you can see from the pics it certainly is coming along nicely!

Eventpost 16 - Shatterford BMCA

My Sprite has been back to Alan Nicklin this week for a few mods to be done (thanks Alan!) the issues I had been having with the bike being a little sluggish off the bottom were looked at and a new carb inlet manifold, some flywheel weight removed and some work on the carb slide have resulted in the engine being transformed.

Another nice touch has been a wheel to route the clutch cable in a more direct line and make the clutch lighter - if fact it now feels as light as a hydraulic clutch on a modern bike - perhaps the cramp from over using the clutch will now subside!!

Anyway, the bike is running and performing well but I am afraid I let it down myself this week. The trial was very easy and as normal I found myself losing silly marks due to concentration towards the end of the trial - in fact 3 laps for 1 mark and then 9 marks on the last lap was the result of taking things too easy and not concebtrating on the task in hand. I think Alan Nicklin and Steve Hay were both clean and I would have been fairly satisfied with 1 or 2 marks lost but slack marks on sections 6 and 7 plus a 5 on the easiest section of the trial (dont know why but the observer must have seen something he didn't like) made for a spoilt afternoon out..

I am afraid that this happens far too often in easy trials when i think about what I am doing on the first couple of laps then go into my own world and undo all the good work on the last lap thinking about what's recorded on sky for when I get home!!

This week I am planning to ride the Classic Experts Trial at Rhyader which is a single lap road trial so I should be able to focus on what I am doing and see if a harder trial brings out the Dave that can ride a bit!!

Anyway - thanks this week go to Bully for the pep talk - mate, I know you read this so thanks for the words of wisdom!!

Fanticpost 2

The majority of the work has been done already. We decided to leave the geometry of the frame as it was but make some adjustments that would help the overall handling of the bike;

• The footrests have been moved down and back to lower the centre of gravity and make it more stable.
  
• The top yokes have been cut to move the handlebar clamps forwards and make the steering more precise and quicker


• The clutch lever has been lengthened and a new cable stop has been machined to keep the cable in line with the lever


• The engine was in great condition so it has just had a cosmetic make over with the head and barrell shot blasted and the cases rubber down and sprayed silver


• The frame has been to the powder coater's and we decided to make it a little different by doing it in white.


• The fork stansions have gone off to be ground and re-chromed and the lowers have been stripped and polished


• New wider footrests and rear shocks have gone on


• The tank has been sent away to be used as a pattern to make a thermoplastic replacement as original replacements were not available from the usual supplier
  

We are now waiting for a perts list to arrive from Steve Goode motorcycles which includes controls (cables, levers, twistgrip, grips, new tyres, fork seals and dust covers, new carb jets and airbox hoses, air filter etc etc)

As you can see from the pictures, the build has started and it's looking good already. I will ost more pics as it comes together